


No-One Else

by Ophelia Coelridge (daemonluna)



Category: due South
Genre: F/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-04-29
Updated: 2000-04-29
Packaged: 2017-10-14 05:29:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/145872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daemonluna/pseuds/Ophelia%20Coelridge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fraser's past returns to haunt him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No-One Else

"Hello, Ben. Did you miss me?"

He'd never really expected to hear the voice that greeted him ever again. Then again, on some level he'd been listening for it in every half-heard whisper of sound for the past year and a half.  
The fax had not come through official channels. Not strictly official channels, Benton Fraser amended in his head. Because if it had been anyone else, they'd have had no reason to inform him. Not this way.

He stared at the paper. The grey smudges. The formal, empty words. There was a scribbled note attached, from Inspector Thatcher. It read simply, "I thought you should know. I'm sorry."

"Hey Benny, you ready to g--what is it?"

Fraser silently handed over the flimsy sheet of paper.

"Dead," he said quietly. "They thought I'd want to know."

Ray also stared at the page. "I don't know if you should be laughing or crying," he said blankly.

"They checked the dental records," Fraser continued in an empty, even voice that hurt to listen to. "It really was her. Single shot, execution-style, to the head."

Silence. An impenetrable bubble that enveloped the two of them and made the noisy bustle of the precinct something very, very far away.

"C'mon, Benny," Ray said finally, gently, breaking the frozen tableau. "I'm taking you home."

Fraser said nothing, and let Ray guide him from the station and into the car with an arm around his shoulders.

Ray let the Riv idle outside of his building. "Are you o--are you going to be okay?"

"I believe I'm in shock," was the toneless response.

"Do you want me to come in with you?"

"No. If it's all right with you, I... I think I'd like to be alone." Fraser stared unseeingly out the window.

"You need anything, and I mean anything at all, you call me," Ray said with an intensity that bordered on fierceness. "I mean it, Benny." He squeezed Fraser's shoulder briefly. Fraser blinked, and smiled as if his face would crack.

"Understood. And Ray?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." A flicker of emotion escaped past the blank mask. It may have been gratitude. It may have been pain.

"You just remember--you need anything, you call."

Fraser said nothing, just got out of the car, and raised one hand in a silent farewell. Ray let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and waited another long minute or so before reluctantly driving away.

Fraser took off his hat. Hung it up. Removed his jacket carefully, fingers steady on the brass buttons. Hung up the jacket, too. Turned to face the ghost that greeted him.

"Hello, Victoria."


End file.
